Jones did more than deliver, stopping Alan Sanchez 49 seconds into the second round at Caribe Royale. The eight-round junior middleweight bout headlined Matchroom Boxing’s Project Series 2 and streamed on DAZN.

“That’s what I wanted,” Jones said in his post-fight media scrum. “I felt like I needed to make that dominant statement and get him out of there. I didn’t say nothing, but I wanted to take it round by round. Once I knew that opportunity was there, I saw it early, and I took it.”

Jones (8-0, 5 KOs), a 2024 bronze medalist in the Paris Olympics, set the tone in the first round. He pressured Mexico’s Sanchez (24-8-1, 10 KOs), landing clean power shots to the head and body while keeping the shorter Sanchez at the end of his reach.

While Jones knew he wanted to be the aggressor, Sanchez’s approach to be more passive caught him by surprise.

“He came out very different from what I watched on film,” Jones said. “Everybody just kept telling me pressure fighter, pressure fighter, and he came out moving. I had to adjust to that quickly, and I feel like I did.”

Jones, 23, carried the momentum from the first round into the second. He immediately took to the center of the ring and with 2:25 left, he landed a straight right hand that made Sanchez retreat to his corner.

Sanchez, 35, crouched in his corner as Jones unleashed a barrage of left hooks and straight right hands before referee Christopher Young stopped the fight.

The stoppage victory was Jones’ first after going the distance in his last three fights.

Among those in attendance for Jones’ first main event were Orlando Magic shooting guard Desmond Bane and head coach Sean Sweeney.

“That means everything,” Jones said. “It shows the star power I have here in Orlando, Florida. It’s an amazing thing to see the Orlando Magic coming out. That was the first time they’ve been at one of my fights.”

Jordan Orozco was losing the fight until he wasn’t.

After clearly being behind in the first half of the fight, the Nicaraguan prospect scored a sixth-round stoppage over Yusniel Abrahante in the co-main event.

Abrahante’s speed and defense had him firmly in control. The Cuban southpaw was connecting with clean shots and making the 22-year-old Orozco miss wildly with power shots.

The fight changed late in the sixth when Orozco (18-0, 18 KOs) hit Abrahante (8-3, 1 KO) with a left hook to the liver with 48 seconds left in the round. Abrahante grabbed onto Orozco and was visibly in pain.

Before referee Luis Pabon could break them up, Abrahante, 25, was running to try and get away from Orozco.

Orozco cut Abrahante off and got him trapped in the corner. After a barrage of unanswered punches while Abrahante ducked into the ropes, Pabon stopped the fight with 30 seconds remaining in the sixth.

Donte Layne (9-0, 7 KOs) def. Keithland King (11-3, 11 KOs) UD 8 (80-72, 80-72, 78-74) – super middleweight

Fidencio Hernandez (5-0, 3 KOs) def. Diego Nieves (4-1, 4 KOs) MD 6 (58-56, 58-56, 57-57) – featherweight

Ronny Alvarez (8-0, 7 KOs) def. Narciso Carmona (12-3-1, 7 KOs) TKO 3 – super middleweight

Jusiyah Shirley (10-1, 7 KOs) def. Kevin Castillo (6-3-1) UD 6 (60-54, 59-55, 59-55) – junior welterweight

Angel Hernandez (7-0, 7 KOs) def. Duilio Jaramillo (1-3, 1 KO) KO 1 (2:56) – lightweight

Ryan Santiago (2-0, 1 KO) def. Jesus Ivan Molina (1-1) MD 4 (40-36, 39-37, 38-38) — junior bantamweight